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“Mistakes should be examined, learned from, and discarded; not dwelled upon and stored.” – Tim Fargo
Email marketing can be a bit of a black hole. You spend hours crafting the perfect email, hit send, and then...crickets. It's frustrating, especially when you know that email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach your customers.
The good news is that there are a few key email marketing KPIs (key performance indicators) that you can track to make sure your efforts are paying off. But before we discuss those 13 email marketing KPIs, let's try to understand.
What is a KPI?
A KPI, in simplest terms, stands for a critical performance indicator. It's a metric used to measure the performance of a business or individual against predetermined goals.
KPIs are often used in conjunction with other data points to give a complete picture of performance. For example, a KPI might measure the number of sales made by a salesperson in a given month.
However, other data points, such as the number of customer complaints, could also be considered to get a more holistic view of the salesperson's performance.
Key performance indicators can be helpful in setting and measuring progress, but it’s essential to select KPIs that are relevant to the goals of your business. Otherwise, the KPI may not provide useful information.
So, without any further ado, let's figure out what those are:
13 Email marketing KPIs to keep an eye on
Starting with the most common one, which is none other than:
1. Email open rates
The email open rate metric tells you how many people open your emails and whether they engage with your content. If your email open rates are low, it could be a sign that people don’t find your content interesting or relevant. Additionally, it could indicate that your email subject lines are ineffective.
To improve your email open rates, start by testing different subject lines and strategies for getting people to open your emails. However, open rates can be affected by several factors, such as the:
- the subject line of your email,
- time of day you send your email,
- how often you send your email,
- type of device the recipient is using, etc.
It's vital to track open rates in an email marketing report overtime to get an accurate picture of email campaign performance.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate the open rate, divide the number of people who opened your email by the total number of people who received it and multiply the result by 100.
For example, if 100 people received your email and 20 people opened it, your open rate would be 20%.
2. Click-through rate (CTR)
CTR measures the number of people who click on a link in your email compared to the total number of people who received the email.
A high CTR indicates that the email template you’re using is relevant and engaging and that you're reaching your target audience. Additionally, a high CTR can lead to more conversions and sales. If your CTR is low, it could be a sign that your email copy is:
- irrelevant or unengaging,
- poor audience targeting,
- non-persuasive.
You can get the help of these AI writers on the market or hire professional email copywriters to write persuasive and engaging copy for your email marketing campaigns.
How do you calculate it?
There are a few different ways to calculate CTR, but the most common is to divide the number of clicks by the number of delivered emails, minus the bounced ones, and multiply the result by 100.
For example, if your email is sent to 1000 people and 200 people click on a link, your CTR would be 20%. Email marketers typically aim for a CTR of 2-5%, but this will vary depending on your industry and target audience.
3. Bounce rate
One email marketing KPI that is often overlooked is the bounce rate. The bounce rate is the percentage of email recipients who didn't receive your email. A high email bounce rate indicates that a large number of email addresses didn't receive your emails, which can be caused by a variety of factors such as:
- incorrect email address,
- spam complaints,
- poor deliverability,
- bad sender reputation.
Additionally, a high bounce rate can also lead to ISPs blocking your emails. It can hurt your email deliverability and reputation, especially if you’re using Gmail as a mail client.
By monitoring your email bounce rate, you can identify potential problems with your email campaigns and take steps to improve your email deliverability.
How do you calculate it?
The most common way to find the bounce rate is to divide the number of bounced emails by the total number of emails sent and multiply the result by 100. For example, if your email is sent to 100 people and 20 people click on a link, your bounce rate would be 20%.
4. Conversion rate
The email conversion rate is an important metric to monitor because it shows how many of your subscribers took a desirable action. It could be anything from:
- making their purchases,
- signing up for webinars,
- any other type of activity.
This helps you achieve goals with the company's product line in mind. A reasonable email conversion rate means more leads and more customers for your business. A few reasons for a poor conversion rate can be:
- not enough compelling email copy,
- emails are full of powerful words which make them appear spammy and salesy,
- emails are sent too frequently or not often enough,
- emails are not relevant to the subscribers' interests,
- emails are not well designed or formatted,
- links in emails are not working properly,
- difficulty in navigating the email or it contains too much information.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate your email conversion rate, divide the number of people who take the desired action by the total number of email recipients and multiply the result by 100.
For example, if 100 people receive your email and 10 of them took an action the campaign was intended for, your conversion rate would be 10%.
5. Email return-on-investment (ROI)
Email ROI measures the success of your campaigns in terms of how much revenue they generate compared to how much they cost. It's defined as revenue generated for every dollar spent.
In other words, it tells you whether or not your email campaigns are paying off.
Understanding and tracking this metric can ensure that your email marketing efforts are truly successful.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate your email ROI, take the total revenue generated from the campaign and divide it by the total costs incurred and multiply by 100. It'll give you a percentage that you can use to compare the success of different email marketing campaigns.
6. Email delivery rate
Email delivery rate tells you what percentage of your emails were successfully delivered to the recipients' inboxes. A high delivery rate is crucial for any email marketing campaign, as it ensures that your message is reaching your intended audience.
There can be some factors that can affect your delivery rate, such as:
- the quality of your Email Service Provider (ESP),
- the reputation of your sending server domain.
To improve your email delivery rate, it's essential to focus on the above factors and monitor your deliverability rate.
Before purchasing an email marketing software subscription, make sure you understand how much their email delivery rates are. Some email marketing solutions like to advertise their functions while concealing their delivery rates. By doing so, you can ensure that your messages are delivered to as many people as possible.
How do you calculate it?
To find your delivery rate, divide the number of delivered emails by the number of sent emails and multiply by 100. For example, if you sent 100 emails and only 80 were delivered, your delivery rate would be 80%.
7. Unsubscribe rate
The unsubscribe rate is one of the most important email marketing KPIs. After sending one of your emails, it tells you how many people have unsubscribed from your list.
A high unsubscribe rate indicates that:
- your emails are not relevant to your subscribers,
- they are not interested in the products or services you are promoting.
There are a few things you can do to reduce your unsubscribe rate, including:
- sending emails to only people who have opted in to receive them,
- segmenting your list so that you are only sending relevant content to each subscriber,
- sending regular emails so that your subscribers stay engaged with your content.
You can reduce your unsubscribe rate and improve your email marketing campaigns by following these steps.
How do you calculate it?
To find your unsubscribe rate, take the number of people who unsubscribed from your list divided by the total number of people who receive your email and multiply the result by 100.
For example, if you have a list of 1000 people and 10 of them unsubscribe after receiving your email, your unsubscribe rate would be 1%.
8. Social sharing rate
This measures how often people who receive your emails share them with their social networks. A high social sharing rate indicates that your emails resonate with your audience and that they see value in sharing your content with their friends and followers.
There are a number of factors that can influence your social sharing rate, including:
- the quality of your content,
- the timing of your email sends,
- the individual preferences of your subscribers.
But if you can get people to share your emails, it's a good sign that you're on the right path.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate this number, take the number of people who share your email divided by the number of people who open it and multiply the result by 100.
For example, if 100 people open your email and 10 share it on social media, your social sharing rate would be 10%.
9. Email list growth rate
This rate is one of the most important email marketing KPIs. A healthy list growth rate ensures that your email list is growing at a sustainable pace, which is essential for long-term success.
There are several factors that can impact your list growth rate, such as:
- the quality of your content,
- the frequency of your emails,
- the incentive you offer subscribers.
However, one of the most important things to remember is that list growth rates vary depending on your industry and audience. As a result, it's important to benchmark your growth rate against other companies in your space. By doing so, you can ensure that you're on track to achieve your email marketing goals.
How do you calculate it?
Calculating your list growth rate is simple: take the number of new subscribers minus the unsubscribers and divide it by the number of total subscribers.
If you started with 1,000 subscribers and the net subscriber gain is 100 over the course of a month, your list growth rate would be 10%.
10. Subscriber acquisition cost (SAC)
Every business wants to acquire new customers, but it's important to ensure that acquisition is profitable. One way to measure profitability is to track the subscriber acquisition cost (SAC).
The goal is to keep the SAC as low as possible while still acquiring a sufficient number of new subscribers. There are some ways to reduce the SAC, such as:
- offering discounts,
- using email marketing to reach a larger audience.
Businesses can ensure good customer acquisition efforts by tracking and reducing the SAC.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate SAC, simply divide the total cost of acquiring new subscribers by the number of new subscribers acquired. For example, if it costs $100 to acquire 10 new subscribers, the SAC is $10.
11. Subscriber lifetime value (SLV)
SLV represents the total amount of revenue that a customer will generate throughout their relationship with your business. To calculate SLV, you need to know two things:
- the average revenue per customer (ARPC),
- the average length of time that a customer remains subscribed (ALTS) to your email list.
How do you calculate it?
The formula is pretty straightforward: SLV = ARPC x ALTS. If your average revenue per customer is $100 and the average length of time that a customer remains subscribed to your email list is 10 months, then your SLV is $100*$10 = $1000
12. Revenue per email
This KPI measures the amount of revenue generated from each email sent. While RPE is a helpful metric, it's important to keep in mind that it only estimates how much revenue was generated from each email and does not consider other factors, such as conversion rate or average order value. As a result, RPE should be used with other KPIs to get a complete picture of your email marketing performance.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate this, divide the total revenue generated from email marketing by the number of emails that were sent.
For example, if you generated $100 in revenue from your last email campaign and sent out 1000 emails, your RPE would be $0.10.
13. Spam complaint rate
In email marketing, your spam complaint rate (SCR) is a metric that measures the number of recipients who mark your message as spam in their inbox. This can happen for a number of reasons:
- maybe they didn't remember subscribing to your list,
- perhaps they no longer find your content relevant,
- you use spam trigger words in your email subject lines.
Whatever the reason, a high SCR is something to avoid. It damages your sender's reputation (and thus, your ability to deliver emails to inboxes), but it also indicates that you're not providing value to your subscribers. A high SCR can quickly lead to an avalanche of unsubscribes if you're not careful. So how can you keep your SCR low?
First, make sure that you're only sending emails to people who have opted to receive them.
Second, segment your list so that you're only sending relevant content to each subscriber.
And finally, give people an easy way to unsubscribe if they no longer want to receive your emails. By following these simple guidelines, you can ensure that your SCR stays low - and that your subscribers stay happy.
How do you calculate it?
To calculate your spam complaint rate, take the number of complaints divided by the number of emails delivered. So, if you had 100 complaints out of 10,000 delivered emails, your complaint rate would be 1%.
You can also calculate it by dividing the number of complaints by the number of unique opens. So, if you had 100 complaints and 4,000 unique opens, your complaint rate would be 2.5%.
Wrapping up
If you're not tracking your email marketing KPIs, you're flying blind. Without them, you'll never know why your efforts are not as successful as you hoped.
Tracking and measuring KPIs will help you identify the source of the problem and enhance your campaigns, but they'll also assist you in giving your entire email marketing campaign a clear goal and direction. So, what are you waiting for? Start tracking those email marketing KPIs today.
